A meeting with representatives from three of New Zealand’s more established organisations, along with fight media company Ten8 media, was recently held to discuss the direction of the sport in the country. As a result, an alliance between Shuriken NZ, Supremacy FC and Hammerhead MMA — represented by Matt Toa (pictured) — was formed, under a new umbrella organisation called Undisputed NZ.
The collaboration will see nine shows promoted by the three organisations throughout the year under the Undisputed NZ banner, with the promotion’s respective title holders from each weight division facing off to find out who New Zealand’s true undisputed champions are.
Many MMA fans were left unsure about what direction the sport would take in New Zealand following the collapse of the country’s most established promotion, the ICNZ, back in March. It would seem a new era for the sport locally is not far off, with Undisputed NZ set to launch in 2014.
The following is an extract from a press release regarding the new developments.
An agreement between Shuriken NZ MMA, Hammerhead MMA and Supremacy Fighting Championship has led to an alliance being formed under an umbrella organisation that will see the three big shows come together to unify the sport.
While it is still very important for each of us to continue to maintain and develop our individual identities and brands, and to continue to promote our respective titles we believe more success can be achieved by working together. Under the umbrella organization we will see an identifier series being run to develop and cross promote up and coming fighters between all three different shows. This will enable us the properly establish a national ranking system, and with the ultimate goal of finding a single nationally recognised champion in each weight class the NZ MMA scene will see our respective champions pitted against each other to see who is the real NZ Undisputed Champion in each weight class.
To top it all off, If this wasn’t exciting enough “UNDISPUTED NZ” will be working in association with 10/8 Media and the master of combat TV, Jacob Toms to bring each of the 9 shows to the entire country so everyone can be a part of and share in a truly nationalised sporting body.
Last but not least all three promotions want to make sure that this is not seen as an “elitist group” but a national association that will recognize all fighters, gyms and promoters who want to be involved and come on board to have events or MMA bouts on mixed events sanctioned by and results recognized in the Undisputed National MMA Ranking system.
In what is another major step forward for the sport in New Zealand, the news follows the recent formation of the New Zealand Mixed Martial Arts Federation, which sees New Zealand join 20 other countries as part of the International MMA Federation. The IMMAF is the largest of it’s kind in the world and is responsible for sanctioning The UFC in countries which do not have athletic commissions.
